Tucker Carlson reignites NSA surveillance debate on the Right – Denver Gazette

A controversy over Fox News host Tucker Carlson's texts and emails has revived Republican interest in curtailing the National Security Agency's surveillance program, an issue that has often divided the party between libertarians and national security hawks.

Fifteen House Republicans, led by Reps. Louie Gohmert of Texas and Bill Posey of Florida, sent the NSA a letter on Tuesday, demanding explanations of its surveillance practices and how a U.S. citizen's communications might lawfully be ensnared in its spying on foreign nationals.

Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican who is a longtime critic of the NSA, has also sought an investigation of the incident. "I write to you to demand that you investigate the National Security Agency's (NSA) alleged spying and unmasking of Tucker Carlson, as well as any leaks of his private emails from the NSA to other reporters," he said in a letter.

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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy requested that Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee investigate Carlson's June allegation that the NSA had spied on him in an effort to take his highly rated show off the air.

"The NSA cannot be used as a political instrument, and House Republicans will ensure accountability and transparency," McCarthy, a California Republican, said at the time.

"It's illegal for the NSA to spy on American citizens. It's a crime," Carlson said on his show. "It's not a Third World country. Things like that should not happen in America."

The spy agency has publicly denied Carlson's claims. "This allegation is untrue," an NSA spokesperson said in a statement. "Tucker Carlson has never been an intelligence target of the Agency and the NSA has never had any plans to try to take his program off the air."

"We target foreign powers to generate insights on foreign activities that could harm the United States," the statement continued. "With limited exceptions (e.g. an emergency), NSA may not target a US citizen without a court order that explicitly authorizes the targeting."

Republicans were dissatisfied with this response, especially following an Axios report that the NSA surveilled Carlson through incidental collection while attempting to secure an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, raising questions about how the outlet would have obtained this information.

"Asserting that Tucker Carlson is not and never has been an intelligence target of the Agency does not rule out the possibility of his being surveilled or unmasked for supposed ties to a party under investigation," the House Republicans wrote in their letter.

"I am open-minded enough to believe, if given convincing evidence, that the NSA may be telling the truth, but when a long train of abuses conducted by the NSA evinces a consistent design to evade the law and violate the constitutionally-protected liberties of the people, the NSA must do more than tweet a carefully worded denial to be trusted," Paul wrote in his letter.

Surveillance by the NSA, initially revealed in part in 2013 leaks by former agency contractor Edward Snowden while Barack Obama was president and President Joe Biden was vice president, has often become the target of GOP ire under Democratic administrations. But party leaders have been reluctant to shed powers the federal government acquired after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.

Unmasking and surveillance became an issue again when an associate of former President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign was surveilled, and incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn had the contents of a controversial call with a Russian official leaked. Trump repeatedly alleged that the Obama administration spied on his campaign, while officials defended the initial inquiries as justified.

Flynn was charged with misleading federal investigators about the Russian call. Trump and his campaign were investigated to determine whether they colluded with the Russian government's attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election. Flynn was pardoned at the end of a complicated legal saga, and special counsel Robert Mueller did not establish a Trump-Russia election conspiracy.

As the top Republican on the House Intelligence panel, Rep. Devin Nunes of California repeatedly pressed officials on the surveillance and unmasking of Trump associates during the Obama era.

Former Rep. Justin Amash, a Michigan Republican turned Libertarian Party member who led a bipartisan effort to limit warrantless surveillance and data collection, argued that these investigations did not go far enough compared to his proposed legislative remedies.

"The NSA is doing all the things that McCarthy and Nunes voted for it to do," Amash tweeted after Republican leaders spoke out on the Carlson allegations. "When I tried to stop the FISA 702 reauthorization, they said I was endangering American lives. GOP leaders urged Trump to denounce my efforts and sign the FISA bill, which he did. Now they feign outrage."

Amash made a similar observation in 2019 when a federal surveillance court rebuked the FBI for violating Americans' privacy rights through its foreign intelligence programs. "This is FISA 702," he tweeted at the time. "In 2018, I led the charge against the establishment to stop this program. President Trump attacked my efforts and signed it into law, with the support of [former House Speaker Paul] Ryan, [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi, McCarthy, Nunes, and [Rep. Adam] Schiff. It's an outrageous violation of our Constitution and our rights."

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"The Tucker thing will get the base's juices flowing, but we haven't been consistent on this," said a veteran Republican operative in Washington, D.C.

"It is imperative that any claim of a U.S. government agency illegally spying on a private citizen be taken seriously," Gohmert, Posey, and over a dozen other House Republicans wrote, requesting an NSA response by Aug. 1. "Therefore, in addition to your response to these important questions, we are urging you to provide all documents related to your agency involving Tucker Carlson to us."

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